2023 Ice-Out Predictions

[smurfy]

i follow this thread alot.......mainly because it aint dead.......and its interesting. with ice maybe being going out late, just curious do they push opener out longer in years like this. i think they have done that in the past other places?????????/

[Raven77]

3 hours ago, smurfy said:

i follow this thread alot.......mainly because it aint dead.......and its interesting. with ice maybe being going out late, just curious do they push opener out longer in years like this. i think they have done that in the past other places?????????/

Why would they push opener back?  Lakes in the southern 2/3 of the state will be ice free.

[leech~~]

3 hours ago, Raven77 said:

Why would they push opener back?  Lakes in the southern 2/3 of the state will be ice free.

Cuz not everyone wants to fish Bullheads!

[smurfy]

4 hours ago, Raven77 said:

Why would they push opener back?  Lakes in the southern 2/3 of the state will be ice free.

I don't know, simply asked. I'm pretty sure they've done it in the past. 

 

And not everyone wants to play bumper boat!

[Raven77]

Pretty sure?  When?  It has never happened.

[Raven77]

1 hour ago, leech~~ said:

Cuz not everyone wants to fish Bullheads!

Last I looked the southern 2/3 of MN would include Mille Lacs, Alexandria area, and hundreds of great walleye lakes.  You think they would delay opener because Vermilion was still iced over.  

[BWpineisland]

I’m thinking May 13th is the day and I’ll gladly contribute to my share of the beer bet

[Dalton10]

Heading up to moose lake on may 12th so anytime before then would be perfect my guess is May 1st 

[SkunkedAgain]

I snowmobiled the shorelines and it was still fantastic, deep snow. I should have just cruised all day instead of doing cabin work. It was that much fun. The only signs of spring that I've seen are some bare south-facing slopes. Most of the creeks are not even running yet, there's still thigh-deep snow on the lake, and as Brainf noted it took a lot of strength for me to break through the ice with my 8" hand auger. I was thinking that I was getting old, but good to know that it cooked a drill and not just me.

 

It still says about 8" of snow this week, but then a pretty good warm-up after that. Mostly sunny every day with April 12th the first day where the low isn't below freezing. The sun can do a lot of damage in a month.

 

[SkunkedAgain]

The DNR has delayed fishing opener on some lakes to protect the spawn. The did it on Vermilion in 2008:

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/dnr-delays-fishing-opener-in-some-areas

 

It is highly unusal for them to take that step. Last year I thought that we would be ice fishing the opener, and was excited to do it. Then in the span of a few days the lake completely opened up. 

[jparrucci]

7 hours ago, SkunkedAgain said:

The DNR has delayed fishing opener on some lakes to protect the spawn. The did it on Vermilion in 2008:

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/dnr-delays-fishing-opener-in-some-areas

 

It is highly unusal for them to take that step. Last year I thought that we would be ice fishing the opener, and was excited to do it. Then in the span of a few days the lake completely opened up. 

They have closed Pike Bay only to fishing a handful of times. 

[TomWehler]

Pike bay closing is always fun view from dock.

Bunches of boats troll slow n cast as close to line or lil orange bouys set that make up the pretend line across narrows at Puncher to Echo.

It is fun to watch. Hardly ever see any fish caught that way during the close but it is fun to watch.  Boats come n go all day n others from deeper roosts in Pike Bay zoom to the LINE then slow n weave thru narrows n then Power Up heading East or North into Big Bay.

most I should say as few do just zoom power up clean thru the fishes as D.G.A.S. About boating rules or etiquette or fun good boater good sense.

Zoom….
Then next day that whole armada moves on n new group shows. 
Ever year dock fishes success come an go but the memory of closings of pike bay it a hoot.

Just amazing the many ways humans view things when in a boat,

 

I thick always a bite someplace in lake n the fish don’t know or didn’t read the reports n flyers n internet postings of the closers n wonder away from The Safe Zone n become special guest to DINNER!

: )

Fun junk in life,

 

Big Smiles n Keep on Rocken!

 

T

Thanks to Linda 4 last week view from behind my lil island place on shore lookn NE

 

FARSIDE:  Close to my first job above Roadie in show biz.

: )

Edited April 4, 2023 by TomWehler

[chaffmj]

In 2014 a couple of people were ice fishing on Burntside lake! Never heard of them changing the opener date due to ice.

[SkunkedAgain]

3 hours ago, TomWehler said:

I've always been a musician. After high school, my buddy and I were the sound guys for some acquaintances in a local band. My buddy was much more knowledgeable about sound than me - a dumb drummer. I carried equipment, drank beer, and would re-string a broken guitar when needed during shows. A few times my buddy couldn't be there so I ran the sound board all by myself. My nickname was "Feedback" for obvious reasons. I sucked at it. It's not easy to get everything dialed in correctly. I've always respected the guys running the boards when I was playing.

 

If you're still reading.... The rhythm guitarist in the above band was truly terrible. The first thing that I learned was that once sound check was complete and Brad was dialed in, to turn his guitar down almost all of the way in the mix. He was a great guy but ruined most songs if you could hear him, so his bandmates asked us to keep him out of the mix. Even when his girlfriend would walk up to the soundboard and tell us that she couldn't hear him, we would pretend to turn him up by turning the dial for an unused input. Ahhh, I miss those years...

Edited April 4, 2023 by SkunkedAgain

[TomWehler]

Great story!

N THAT goes on every night some place.

 

Big thanks - made me smile n remember bunch of lil inter band n crew stuff….and junk like that. 
To fun.

pic just a hoot

T

[smurfy]

On 4/2/2023 at 5:42 PM, Raven77 said:

Pretty sure?  When?  It has never happened.

guess you been misinformed!!!!!!!!!!

 

just rassin ya Raven!!!!!!!

Edited April 4, 2023 by smurfy

[JerkinLips]

10 hours ago, TomWehler said:

Pike bay closing is always fun view from dock.

My grandmother's cabin was the 2nd to the last one in Pike Bay on the south shore.  That area would be almost like bumper boats when they closed Pike Bay for the opener.  We always did well fishing from her dock early in the season.

 

Update list:

[SkunkedAgain]

All of this talk of Pike Bay, it got me thinking about the spawning spots. Walleye can and do spawn in many areas around a lake in general, but ideally it's rivers. The two well-known spawning spots are Pike and Black Bays with their rivers being key. I'm not looking to change spots or search out secrets, but are there other well-known spawning areas around the lake? For such a big lake, I would expect more.

[TomWehler]

I know a couple lil areas mid lake n one in deeper water people don’t feel is a spawn area I stumbled on back 1986 

New electronics I’m sure will help reveal many more places.

Great opener fun for some zooming around trying to find The Bite.

Last 20 or so its always been the dock for me The one n only Musky T until midweek.

Fun junk we do, best of luck to all.

Always be safe, have fun n success n enjoy it all.

T

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by TomWehler

[BobT]

Which lake are we guessing on? 

 

Measuring from the top of the snow to the bottom of the ice we have 36" on Osakis with the top 8" being snow. Warm forecast finally but it will take a little time to melt off the snow before the ice will go. I'll guess May 4 for Osakis. 

 

Hoping to be on Vermilion for the opener as usual but I don't expect the ice will be out then so for Vermilion my guess is May 16. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by BobT

[PSU]

Ice out May 11th

[Bbobber]

My guess is May 10 ice out

[JerkinLips]

[chaffmj]

Since people are still submitting their dates can I change my date? Especially now that I know there is beer involved! 

[Roseypike19]

May 7th is my ice out guess.  Probably been posted before, but here is a fun website to further your ice-out guessing experience: https://lakevermilion.com/htmls/iceout/contest.html

 

BTW I have five guesses on that page including kids and the wife, so I'm cherry picking one of those dates for my guess here.  

[SkunkedAgain]

I'm concerned that I guessed too early as well, but the forecast is for warm weather for at least the next week. If it holds up for the next few weeks, we could still have a relatively-normal ice out.

 

 

[JerkinLips]

3 hours ago, SkunkedAgain said:

I'm concerned that I guessed too early as well, but the forecast is for warm weather for at least the next week. If it holds up for the next few weeks, we could still have a relatively-normal ice out.

If this warm week melts all of the snow on the lake, that will definitely speed it up.  If it doesn't however, the following week looks quite cold (freezing overnight).

 

On 4/8/2023 at 10:30 AM, chaffmj said:

Since people are still submitting their dates can I change my date? Especially now that I know there is beer involved! 

For the beer reward pool you can submit a new date.  I eliminated all of the redundant guesses (including yours), and updated the list to show what dates are taken.

 

[chaffmj]

Ok thanks, I will take May 5th.

Edited April 10, 2023 by chaffmj

[Rivergroup]

May 4th here... If I may?

[JerkinLips]

 

Updated list.  If the snow cover disappears on the lake this week, it will definitely help speed up the ice-out process.